our holiday was really nice and relaxing. I only thought about work once, and was able to take care of everything in about 3 minutes. sweet deal. We usually had a nice slow morning at the bach (vacation home), then would drive over to taupo to have some fun until about 4, when we headed back and made dinner and had a super-relaxing evening. I love non-rushing holidays.

The last day in taupo was DS's kind of day. Got up nice and slow, drove to the town, walked the 'waterfront' on the lake, then went to the playground for 3-4 hours, then walk back to the car, and then we had a nice dinner, and to bed nice and early. He got the pukies overnight (likely from accidentally getting hot spring water in his mouth), and then basically slept for the drive home, and then we came home and watched glee and he went to sleep right after (around 7:30).

He's feeling much better today.

Missed you guys, though. There was no internet connection to distract us, and so we mostly just enjoyed going outside. Nice. I did check work emails at the internet cafe, and that's when I got online for about 5 minutes.

Tonight was just a back to basics dinner, green beans, onions,mushrooms sauteed with kerrygold herb butter and a splash of sherry (I have this bottle that is about ten years old that I'm trying to use up). And a sashimi grade salmon filet cooked in a ginger and tamari rub.

I buy crushed ginger and crushed garlic in jars and take a dollop of each about 50/50 and rub it into the fish then let it sit out for a while to get up to room temp. Melt butter and pan saute with a dash of wheat free tamari while cooking. The garlic and ginger make the golden crustiness and your hands smell awesome for hours afterwards.

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The neighborly onslaught of zucchini continues unabated so tonight I did the grated up and quick sauteed green "noodles" with ground venison, tricolor bell peppers and onions on top mixed up in some Wolfgang Puck tomato sauce. I did the "zuchoodles" in some oil that is infused with hot peppers and added a bit of parmesan cheese. Very tasty.

But I still have six BIG zucchinis left and more growing all the time.

My other adventure today was getting a tattoo. No, not the "tramp stamp" kind. When they reconstructed my boob after breast cancer they took a chunk of tissue from my tummy and transplanted it up so I don't have any silicone bag in the old bod. A good thing. Then they had to create a new nipple which they did by doing a tattoo. The problem was that the doctor who did it was a better surgeon than he was a tattoo artist and the tattoo never looked right and has since faded and gotten all blurry and was totally the wrong color to match the other one.

I found a female tattoo artist who lists such reconstructive tattoos as one of her specialties and had it redone today. She did a really great job. I am very pleased. It doesn't hurt much because that area has so much scar tissue that it is not very sensitive.

That's super awesome, robyn. It's so nice when your nipples match and look better. A friend of mine had the same problem with her nipple after her surgery, and had to have it redone as well. It was a really emotional thing for her, too.

I was thinking of getting my ears repierced today (the piercing has closed on one side). It's my 36th birthday, so, special treat. but then decided I was too tired.

Okay, somewhat of a tangent, but seeing this photo made me think of the subject again.

Notice how the second breast is carefully covered? Now, I know that for this photo, it is because the object is to display the lovely post-surgery tattoo. But what does our society have against nipples? A few years ago, I was looking through an advertisement insert for lingerie that came with our Playboy magazine. Something seemed off. After a careful perusal, I realized that all the nipples had been airbrushed out! Even the ones UNDER the lingerie, giving a Barbie-effect. This in a magazine where nipples are proudly displayed, but the advertisers can't be that 'provocative'? What the heck?!?

And who can forget the hilarious/pathetic episodes on 'Biggest Loser' when the nipples of some of the men who had 'man-boobs' were grayed out.

Is it because nipples are functional(on the ladies, at least?) And that makes them just too graphic? Or because their visibility hints at arousal, and, oh,no, we just can't bear to see that? So does a blush, and we don't gray out people's cheeks. (Not those ones, at least!)